


And Time Fades Quickly, You Must Be Quick to Catch It

by Nothing_can_last_forever



Category: Doctor Who & Related Fandoms, Doctor Who (2005)
Genre: Emotional Hurt/Comfort, Hurt/Comfort, Implied/Referenced Self-Harm, Other
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-10-16
Updated: 2017-12-01
Packaged: 2019-01-18 04:36:36
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 2,097
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12381021
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Nothing_can_last_forever/pseuds/Nothing_can_last_forever
Summary: The Doctor is having a hard time, slowly fading and breaking, and three of his friends come together to try to fix their Doctor.





	1. And the Pieces Start To Crack

**Author's Note:**

> I do not own Doctor Who, all rights go to BBC and the writers. Currently, the story is a oneshot but may progress into a multi chapter story if I get around to it. Enjoy!

The Doctor gasps as he awakens, grasping the sheets tightly in his hands and twisting them into tight knots. The smell of burning flesh, echoes of explosions and the feeling of over-whelming guilt consumes him, leaving him breathless, and both hearts pounding. The TARDIS hums around him, engulfing him in a mental hug. His barriers down, The Doctor welcomes the embrace, and lets her comfort him to the best of her abilities. He slowly climbs out of his bed, gripping onto the bedposts as he carefully moves around. The silence scares him, unable to hear anything in the small room of his. Quickly changing into his normal attire, the trench coat offering a small solace of comfort, he heads for the kitchen, finding the door right next to his room. Silently thanking the sentient machine, he walks into the room to find Donna standing in front of the oven, swearing up a storm as smoke piles up from a pan on the stovetop. Immediately taking a tea towel from the rack, The Doctor grabs the now-charred pan and dumps it into the nearby sink, coughing against the black smoke pouring from the ashy remains of whatever Donna was attempting to cook. 

Turning to look at the now guilty-looking female, who suddenly sasses him as he washes the pan, straining to prevent the food from burning further. Normally, he would take what Donna says and have a smart-ass comment back, but today he felt horrible. He isn’t in the mood, and as she got personal, he turns around and tells her to shut it. The shocked look on her face crushes him, so he turns and leaves her in the kitchen, running back into his room and slamming the door behind him. The TARDIS groans and shakes a little, yelling at him but he ignores it, instead going straight to his furniture and breaks the oak bookcase, the wood cracking underneath his advanced strength. Once everything, excepting his desk and bed, surrounds the floor around him like felled trees that The Doctor finally looks at his hands, bruised and covered in splinters. A panic attack overtakes him, sending him spiralling even further, consuming him in its rage. Now significantly calmed down, the machine tries to direct her Time Lord to the medbay, but is once again ignored as he grabs tweezers from a medkit in his room and meticulously takes his time removing the tiny pieces of wood stuck underneath his skin. He overlooks the scalpel still left in the kit, trying overcome the temptation of self-destruction and break his stride. He has Donna to protect, he didn’t need to express his true feelings on himself yet again. 

Donna stands in the middle of the kitchen, still gaping at her friend as he turns tail and runs. That sort of behaviour just wasn’t The Doctor, and while she might’ve pushed a few buttons, he wouldn’t retaliate in the manner that he had just done. Cleaning up the mess from the attempted breakfast fiasco, she awkwardly touches the TARDIS and asks where the alien boy went off to. A door immediately appears to her left, and Donna thanks her before racing into the new door. The sight of The Doctor surrounded by broken wood and slightly bloodied hands greets Donna, who becomes speechless as she takes in the Time Lord in front of her. It was a room she had never seen before, and judging by the amount of personal items in it she recognised it as The Doctor’s personal room. Picking her way through the ruined pieces, she slides next to the alien as he looks at the photo album in his hands, opened to one section in particular. She gently hugs him and looks over his shoulder as he goes through the book. He stiffens as she wraps her arms around him, but slowly lessens it as he puts his head on her shoulder. 

Spread across the pages are thirty-six different faces, some old photos, other newer. She flicks through the pages until she sees the familiar face of herself staring back at her, unknowing that The Doctor had taken the picture. Finding the first picture, she notices that The Doctor looks away as soon as he sees it, and asks him about the photos. It’s obvious to her that he doesn’t want to talk about it, but he settles properly against her and begins to talk, introducing her to Susan first, then the rest of his companions, until he reaches Rose, Jack and Micky, pausing for a moment. Donna doesn’t pressure him, letting him take his time as he talks about his former companions that she had met. Once he finishes, Donna jumps up with his arm in hand, and drags him to the console room, ordering him to get ready to go to Torchwood. Picking up the phone hidden in the gadgets and switches of the board, Donna calls Martha and tells her the day that they would get to Cardiff, disregarding the pouting of the man behind her. 

The TARDIS practically squeals as they race through time and space to the Rift, particularly tossing and turning her Doctor as he whinges and complains. The Time Lord thought he was so lonely, when in reality he had so many friends, even if he didn’t believe it. She eventually gets the right day and year, happy as she refuels and kicks the duo out. Donna and The Doctor stand in the middle of the street staring at each other as the TARDIS locks her doors, leaving the two out in the bright sun. Two yells bring their attention away from the misbehaving space and time machine, with the large body of Jack sending The Doctor sprawling onto the ground. 

The Doctor instantly tries to push the Captain away before he realises who it is, somewhat relaxing into the tight grip of his old friend. Martha waits her turn, giving Donna a hug before running to her friend, letting him pick her up and twirl around. Together, the four head towards Torchwood headquarters, the Time Lord brightening up as his friends surround him with their care and love.


	2. Crack! And The Pieces Break

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The Doctor refuses to cooperate with the others, and all four are about to be in serious trouble.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I know I said this was to be a oneshot, but I couldn't resist. Have fun, and there is going to be serious whump coming out soon for all our favourite characters!

At Torchwood, The Doctor’s persona changes once again, becoming sullen and gloomy as the hub comes into view. Jack immediately sees the problem, with Gwen, Owen and Ianto still inside working, Owen messing around with the most recent alien technology, which they identified as an instrument of some sort. The Doctor walks in a beeline straight for the man, taking the instrument in his hands and a soft melody comes from it. He drops it into his pockets and turns back to follow the others, ignoring the gaping stares of the Torchwood members. Jack silently tells them to keep carrying on, and sighs as he knows that he won’t be getting that instrument back. Together, the four of them head towards Jack’s office, Ianto trailing behind offering them tea. 

Once they reach the inside, Donna drags the Time Lord to the nearest seat, grabbing onto one of his hands as he reaches into his pockets. Martha holds the other one, massaging the tense tendons as Donna talks of finding him and what she found discovered in the room. Jack and Martha grow more and more concerned as The Doctor tries to ignore them, desperate to run back into the TARDIS and hide away from them all. The longer Donna goes on, the itchier the insides of his arms become, and as their expressions go from concerned to disappointed, he makes a run for it. He runs, the constant thumping of his feet overcoming the hurt flooding from his hearts as he does what he does best, run.

The Doctor makes it to the Plass, a dead sprint towards his ship. He takes out the key seconds before he arrives, and tries to unlock the door. The key turns, but the door refuses to budge. Growing impatient, the Time Lord tries to shoulder barge his way through, only to be thrown back, his shoulder pulsing with pain. Growling in frustration, The Doctor kicks the door, yelling out as she still doesn’t let him in. Once again running, he makes it to the waterside before he stops, sitting down as he cradles his head. Hands raking over his arms, he digs his nails in, wanting to get rid of the emotions in turmoil inside of him. Bloody gashes appear as he rips through skin, desperate to regain control as he feels Jack, Martha and Donna approach, shoving down the sleeves of his trench coat as they come nearer. He tries to back off, standing up and turning on his heel as Jack runs after him, tackling the alien from behind, leaving The Doctor a snarling mess underneath him.

Jack not-so-gently picks the Time Lord, not paying attention to him as he hisses and snaps at him, dragging The Doctor back to the hub. Donna and Martha walk in front of them, opening the door before the struggling duo drag each other in, The Doctor fighting with an unknown violence that none of them knew he possessed. The immortal grabs the nearest set of handcuffs and puts one end on The Doctor’s hand, the other on a nearby autopsy table. Before he could realise what was happening, Jack had stolen his sonic screwdriver and the autopsy bed wouldn’t budge. He hits and kicks at it, satisfied as dents appear in the metal, ignoring the looks of fear and awe as he demonstrates the true strength of a Time Lord. Martha immediately roots around in the cupboards trying to find a sedative that wouldn’t kill the Time Lord, or be metabolised too fast. Finding the appropriate multi-species sedative that The Doctor had given her from the TARDIS, she instantly plunges it into his neck, all three of them waiting for the crazed man to calm down. 

Feeling dizzy, the alien slowly sinks to the floor, groaning as he’s placed on the cold metal surface. Making sure that all the doors are tightly shut, Jack carefully removes the cuffs for the moment, lifting up his coat for the hole. The lines of scratches grab his attention instantaneously, and pulling the Time Lord’s arm closer, Jack feels him tense with the touch. Beckoning Martha over, she carefully cleans the cuts and applies antiseptic cream, ignoring the gazes from the others. Putting the handcuffs back on, they wait in silence for The Doctor to awaken, Donna growing angrier as the time drags on, the words she wants to say growing heavier in her mouth. Slowly but surely, the man on the bed wakes up, eyes straining against the sudden brightness. 

The Doctor tries to stand up, hand yanking on the chains as he finally realises that he’s trapped. He tries pulling his hand again, but stops as he sees Martha holding the sedative, and not wanting to be drugged unwillingly again, calms down to the best of his abilities. The instant he sits back down, Donna digs into him, voice growing louder and louder as she shouts at him. With every word increasing in volume, The Doctor grows paler, desperately pulling to get away from them. But with the drug still affecting him, and without his sonic screwdriver, there was no way out. He absentmindedly scratches the inside of his forearms, wishing that he could be in his room with his kit to help him with the emotional pain he was currently experiencing. All three humans latch onto his actions, and with silent looks, Jack heads off to the TARDIS, only to stop when the screaming started. Immediately, Donna, Martha and Jack fell to the floor clutching their ears, trying to block out the noise. It was only until Martha turns towards the alien that she knows it wasn’t physical. 

He sits on the bed, holding his head in his hands, eyes and mouth closed shut yet that horrible screaming still rings. The Doctor could still feel the sedative running through his blood, burning him and breaking down the delicate walls of his mind. He feels three minds, and not knowing who they are, sends out both his distress and an attack. It forced its way out of him, popping like an overfilled balloon, and into the minds of the others. The last thing he feels before passing out is the mixed felling of soft and calloused hands, and his coat being lifted away. Before falling, he sees the faces of two women and a man, and he hopes that would be able to help him.


End file.
